World Rugby Respond To Attack On Their Host Selection Process

Not impressed.

French federation president Bernard Laporte on Friday dismissed World Rugby’s 2023 report that recommended South Africa host the Rugby World Cup as “nonsense”, full of “blatant errors” and a result of “incompetence”.

On Tuesday the sport’s governing body recommended South Africa host the event in 2023, placing France in 2nd and Ireland in 3rd. South Africa received an overall score of 78.97 percent in the report to 75.88 for France and 72.25 for Ireland on a selection of weighted criteria.

Laporte said France have written to World Rugby, pointing out several “blatant errors.”

“We wrote to (World Rugby chairman) Bill Beaumont to point out several blatant errors,” Laporte told Reuters on Friday.

“I don’t believe in bad faith. I rather think that it’s incompetence.”

Rugby’s governing body has now responded and understandably they are not impressed with the comments.

The issued the following statement:

World Rugby is concerned by the reported comments by host candidates regarding the Rugby World Cup 2023 host selection process and recommendation, and in particular those attributed to the Fédération Française de Rugby.

While disappointment and high-emotion following the announcement of a recommendation is understandable, such comments are both unfounded and inaccurate.

World Rugby has implemented a transparent, objective, professional and robust host selection process. The comprehensive technical evaluation has been undertaken by a team of World Rugby and third-party experts, independently scrutinised by The Sports Consultancy against agreed scoring criteria. The process was supported by the host candidates, the Rugby World Cup Board and Council throughout.

We will be raising our concerns on this matter with the FFR and look forward to the World Rugby Council appointing the Rugby World Cup 2023 host on 15 November with a clear, comprehensive and objective recommendation to consider.